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Friday, August 6, 2010

Sybil's Pecan Torte with Coffee Cream (Flourless)


This is my second encounter with pecans.(Hummingbird Cake jumped queue)

 I used to wonder what’s with the hoohah of pecans over at US. They love pecans more than so many other nuts (well, it’s featured in a lot of American recipes), well, may be due to it’s origin, Pecan is American. But now I know why. It’s just our bakery suppliers sell us inferior ones that don’t really taste and smell good, than I expected them to be. Or maybe it’s only the one that I frequent whenever I’m in KL.

My mother in law got me some Texan Pecans and boy, they smell so good when lightly roasted. Taste so good too. To me, it definitely wins over almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts and cashews.
And now she has left us on a plane back to Houston to get me more pecans, here’s a Pecan Torte with Coffee Cream.


Pecan Torte Recipe (from Rose's Heavenly Cakes)
(A)
225gm pecans (I roasted 250gm, and took out 12 pieces for decoration)
50gm sugar
3 tsp Nescafe Classic (I prefer classic over gold when it comes to cakes)

(B)
7 large egg yolks (130gm)
70gm sugar

(C)
7 egg whites
¾ + 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
30gm sugar

1. Preheat oven to 175C (I did 160) and bake the pecans for 7 minutes. Leave to cool and blitz with sugar and Nescafe classic until fine crumbs but not pasty.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high), then, with a balloon whisk, fold in (A).
3. Wash beaters and in a separate bowl, beat egg whites until frothy. Put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks. Put in sugar and beat until stiff.
4. Put ¼ of the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture and fold. Repeat with another ¼ of the egg whites.
5. Pour the batter into the balance of egg whites and fold.
6. Pour batter into a ungreased tube pan(25cm) or a 9 inch ungreased round pan (must be 3 inch height, if not will overflow when baked, line with baking paper).
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes.
8. Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes and release cake from pan or you may want to try invert immediately upon removal from oven, and let it fall like mine.


Coffee Cream recipe
230gm whipping cream (or 1 cup 250ml)
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp Nescafe Gold (I prefer Gold over classic when it comes to creams)
1 Tbsp hot water
¾ tsp gelatin
1 Tbsp water
½ tsp vanilla extract

1. Melt Nescafe with hot water.
2. Put gelatin in a heat proof bowl and gently pour water onto it. Lightly stir with a toothpick.
3. Pour melted necsafe into gelatin mixture.
4. Double boil or zap in microwave for few seconds until gelatin dissolves. Set aside to cool down totally. Mix in vanilla extract.
5. Freeze mixing bowl and beater for 5 minutes.
6. Pour cold whipping cream into mixing bowl and beat until traces of the beater marks begin to show distinctly. Put in sugar and beat for 10 seconds. Add the gelatin mixture in a steady stream, whipping constantly until stiff peaks form.
7. Spread cream onto cake

My cake fell from the tube while cooling inverted. Darn!!!! I think since this is supposed to be a spongy dense cake, I could just remove it from the pan immediately upon removal from oven. Just like some sponge cakes that should be treated that way, so that they may cool down to a nice equally flat cake rather than with a depression. Actually it's just me being itchy to invert it. I should've just release it from the pan immediately after removal from oven.

This cake is very nice to eat, even though it has fallen…. Just like what it should be, moist, dense and spongy. I’ll try it again, some other time when mother in law comes back in 2011 with Texan Pecans.

29 comments:

  1. Wendy, I dun fancy pecans too but I have 2nd thot after reading your post, probably I also dun ve luck to try a real gd pecan. The cake looks so gd, I am drooling, it has been long time (more than a wk?) since I eat a slice of cake :(

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  2. Just gorgeous, I cant believe how many posts you have!

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  3. The coffee cream sounds nice! I wonder if rum can be added to it. I love coffee and rum! Love pecans too especially in pecan pie!

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  4. Jess,
    Pecans taste better than other nuts, if you ask me. Nuttier.

    Jennifurla,
    Hahaha, less than 100 :)

    Busygran,
    Why not ?? If you love rum or kahlua, feel free to do so.

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  5. this is an amazing looking cake! definitely one of those that i won't resist even with a stuffed tummy! good job!

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  6. Wendy, there are so many versions of those torte cake out there and they're all using lots of egg york in it. Still thinking how to finish up the last batch of my egg white. haha.... Yours look really scrumptious and easy to make. I am loving the coffee cream. Thanks for sharing. Have a nice weekend.
    Cheers, kristy

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  7. Petite Nyonya,
    This torte is totally not filling and very nice for dessert :)

    Sonia,
    Errr... this is a flourless torte, not a sponge.
    May look like it, but nope, it's not.

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  8. Hi Wendy,

    I am sure this cake tastes heavenly, since its from Rose's book. Love the combination of pecan and coffee. Must try this one day too!.

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  9. This looks amazing!!
    I think the 'depression' gives it a nice rustic look.
    Thanks for sharing :)

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  10. Ooooh....love this cake. I love any cake with coffee or coffee cream.....smells so good. I love pecans too...better than any other nuts.

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  11. Kristy,
    Just fry up the egg whites, that's the fastest way to finish them up.

    Bakertan,
    Ha, I knew you'd love this.

    NEL,
    That's what I thought too.... which was why I just piled the cream on it, rather than smoothing it out, gives it a rustic look

    Mary,
    HAHa, coffee and nuts make me go nuts about them too.

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  12. I would like to try a gelatine set whipped cream frosting. This over the chiffon, I am sure it tastes great with the chiffon!

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  13. Now I REALLY wanna stay next to you....(quite impossible though) :D

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  14. Very beautiful cake with pecan nuts, sounds so yummy too.

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  15. Flourless Cake! Sounds good, it must be very soft. Sometimes, I have the same experience when my chiffon cake fell from the tube while cooling inverted, really frustrated :)

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  16. mmmm, that looks really delicious and pretty. Your post sparked a question, how do you prevent cakes from falling? I baked a sponge cake and it was really pretty, but after I took it out of the oven it shrunk to a 1 inch layer. :(

    P.S. I'm so happy to be able to read a new post from your blog every day now except for Sunday.

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  17. Wowww..... really looked heavenly. I love pecans. Need to get my hands on some to try this out!

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  18. Shirley,
    I always use gelatin to stabilize my whipped cream. Our weather is just to cruel to them.

    Meldy,
    Hahaha, just need to come visit me once a while, no need to see me daily as my neighbour.

    Anncoo,
    Thanks

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  19. DG and Esther,

    Actually this cake is NOT supposed to be inverted after baking. It was only me being smartypants. And a not so smart smartypants.
    It should be baked and release from the pan, shortly after removal from oven.
    The torte will shrink definately, but it'll won't be hard and dense, but tender and dense with nuts.


    As for the falling, it's too heavy, which is why it fell. As to why chiffon cakes fall, there are other reasons such as overload liquid, or underbaked. And sometimes unexplained reasons that maybe Scully and Mulder (X files) maybe able to help you with.

    And Esther,
    Some sponge cakes will fall. You have to let them fall, cos in oven, it's hot, so they'll expand, when they come out, it's cool they'll shrink. Alex Goh's sponge cake recipes always require one to remove from pan, immediately after removal from oven, so that the cake can fall uniformly. It's ok as long as it's still tender. But frankly, I do no know what recipe you used. Sponge cakes made from sponge mix won't fall, so maybe you would want to try that, but I don't really use sponge mixes.

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  20. Ju,
    Wah, thanks.

    Ronni,
    Hehe, can't wait to see your version of this.

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  21. looks amazing! what a unique recipe!

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  22. wow u are really blogging everyday without fail. I knew about your blog after the food blogger's gathering at Edith's place today. I've been getting inactive to miss out on a nice blog like yours! Will come back to read more on your cake posts! :)

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  23. mysweetday,
    thanks, the recipe is from Rose Levy Beranbaum, she's the one to credit :)

    Aimei,
    Haha. Awwww.. don't just read about my cakes, there's more than just cakes on my blog. Hope to see you around.

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  24. AwwMan~I will never get to bake this...the ingredients are too expensive!!!! Especially PECAN!!

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  25. Carine,
    Make it as a bithday treat :)

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  26. Hi, is this coffee cream stable at room temperature? Tq

    YP

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  27. YP,
    Dairy whipped cream is never stable in room temperatures above 25C. Even stabilized, it can last not longer than 30 minutes depending on how hot the room is.

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